Panel forming

ABSTRACT

Building panels, especially laminated floor panels are shown, which are provided with a locking system and several core grooves at the rear side in order to save material and decrease weight. Building panels, each having a surface layer on a front side, a backing layer on a rear side and an intermediate core, wherein the intermediate core and the surface and the backing layer all comprise wood fibers and thermosetting resins, said building panels are provided with a locking system for vertical and horizontal locking of a first edge of a first building panel to an adjacent second edge of a second building panel.

CROSS REFERENCE TO RELATED APPLICATIONS

The present application is a continuation of U.S. application Ser. No.13/932,406, filed on Jul. 1, 2013, now U.S. Pat. No. 9,140,010, whichclaims priority to U.S. Provisional Application No. 61/667,190 (VA084),filed on Jul. 2, 2012. The entire contents of U.S. application Ser. No.13/932,406 and U.S. Provisional Application No. 61/667,190 (VA084) arehereby incorporated herein by reference in their entirety.

TECHNICAL FIELD

The disclosure generally relates to the field of forming of panels, e.g.building panels. More particular, the disclosure relates to a method offorming floor panels and floor panels produced by the method.

FIELD OF APPLICATION

Embodiments of the present invention are particularly suitable for usein floating floors, which are formed of floorboards which are joinedmechanically with a locking system and are made up of one or more upperlayers of laminated decorative material, an intermediate core ofwood-fibre-based material and a lower balancing layer on the rear sideof the core. The following description of known technique, problems ofknown systems and objects and features of the disclosure will therefore,as a non-restrictive example, be aimed at this field of application andin particular at paper or powder based laminated floorings formed asrectangular floorboards intended to be mechanically joined on both longsides and short sides. However, it should be emphasized that embodimentsof the invention may be used in all floor types which are installed withmechanical locking systems such as for example solid wood floors, LVTfloors with a plastic surface layer and in wood based building panels,for instance in wall panels and furniture components

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION

Traditional laminated panels, intended to be used for, e.g. flooring orfurniture components, are produced by the following steps as shown inFIGS. 1a-1d . A decorative paper 2 b and a wear resistant transparentoverlay paper 2 a are impregnated with a thermosetting resin, such asmelamine, and are applied on the upper part of a HDF core 3. A balancingpaper 4 impregnated with a melamine resin, general called backing, isapplied on the backside of a HDF core. The core 3 with the upper 2 andlower 4 layers is moved into a press 5 and pressed under heat andpressure such that the thermosetting resins are cured and the layers areattached to the core as shown in FIG. 1 b.

Typical press parameters are 40 bar pressure and a temperature of160-200 C.° with a pressing time of 12-30 seconds.

This production method and product produced by such methods aregenerally referred to as the DPL process and DPL products (DirectPressure Laminate) The upper and lower surface layers have generally atthickness of 0.1-0.2 mm

HDF (High density fibreboard) comprises wood fibre and a thermosettingresin that also is cured by heat and pressure to a board with athickness of about 6-12 mm and a density of about 800 kg/m3.

The most common floor size is a rectangular panel of 1.3*0.2 m with athickness of about 8 mm. The panels are packed and supplied in a packetthat contains about 10 panels with a floor area of about 2 m2. Theweight of each packet is about 16 kg.

Recently new floor panels with a wood powder based surface and backinghave been developed. The paper is replaced with a powder backing 4comprising wood fibres and melamine particles that is scattered on oneside of a core 3 and a powder based surface layer 2 comprising woodfibres, thermosetting resins, preferably melamine particles, aluminiumoxide particles and colour pigments, is scattered on the other side ofthe core that generally is a HDF board. The scattering is made byrollers and brushes and very accurate layers of about 100-800 gr/m2 maybe scattered with high precision on the HDF core material that generallyhas a thickness of about 7-10 mm. The surface 2, the core 3 and thebacking 4 are pressed under heat and pressure in a continuous ordiscontinuous press 5 to obtain a product with a paper free and solidsurface layer and backing.

The pressed powder based layers may have a thickness of about 0.2-1.0mm. Typical press parameters are similar to conventional laminateflooring and may be a pressure of 40-80 bar and a temperature of 160-200C.° with a pressing time of 10-40 seconds.

Such wood fibre based floors, generally referred to as WFF floors, haveconsiderably better properties than traditional laminate floors since athicker and more impact and wear resistant surface may be produced in acost efficient way.

These two production methods may be combined.

A laminate floor with a paper based surface layer may have a powderbased sub layer under the decorative paper in order to provide betterimpact resistance and deeper embossing. The paper backing may bereplaced with a powder backing. The sub layer may be used to impregnatethe decorative paper during pressing when the resins from the sub layerpenetrate into the decorative paper.

WFF floor may also have several different layers on the upper side forexample a high quality top layer 2 a and a more cost efficient sub layer2 b under the top layer. The sub layer may comprise lower resin contentand no aluminium oxide particles are needed.

A common feature for the paper or powder based surface layers, the paperor powder based backing layers and the HDF core is that all thesematerials comprise wood fibres and thermosetting binders, preferablymelamine or urea, and that they are cured by heat and pressure. The woodfibres may be of the same type.

The layers are exposed to a first shrinking when the thermosetting resinin the upper and lower layer cures during pressing. The HDF core is alsoheated and becomes soft and easy to bend. The backing layer balances thetension that is created by the surface layer and the panel issubstantially flat with a small convex backward bending when it leavesthe press. The second temperature shrinking, when the panels is cooledfrom about 160-200° C. to room temperature, is also balanced by thebacking layer and the panel 1 is essentially flat. A small convexbackward bending is preferred since this counteracts upward bending ofthe edges in dry conditions when the relative humidity may go down to20% or lower during wintertime.

This essentially flat pressed board comprises tension forces caused bythe shrinking of the surface and balancing layers.

The board is generally cut and formed into several floor panels withlocking systems on long and short edges as shown in FIG. 1c . Thelocking system comprises generally a tongue 10 and a tongue groove 9 forvertical locking and a strip 6 with a locking element 8 that cooperateswith a locking groove 14 for horizontal locking.

The surface layer 2 has about the same length and width as the backinglayer 4 as shown in FIG. 1d . The locking system may be formed in onepiece with the core. Alternatively separate materials may be used toform for example the tongue 10 and/or the strip 6.

The prices for wood fibres and thermosetting resins are increasing andmajor increases are expected in the future due to shortage and thepossibility to use wood fibres for energy production.

Several methods have been used to save material and to reduce costs.Such methods are mainly aiming to make thinner products that comprise aminimum of resins. Further cost savings are limited by minimum qualityrequirements related to the floor panel and the geometry of lockingsystem.

It would be a major advantage if it would be possible to reduce theweight and material content. The problem with the present laminate andWFF floors is that they must have a high density core such as HDF thatis needed for the stability, impact resistance and the strength which isneeded to resist the heat and pressure from the pressing operation.Another problem is that the panels must have a minimum thickness and acore with high shear strength in order to allow the forming of a lockingsystem with sufficient strength and geometry that allows easyinstallation.

It is known that grooves may be formed on the rear side of solid woodfloors mainly in order to increase the flexibility of the panel. Suchpanels are easier to glue down to the sub floor. Grooves at the rearside of the panels are not used in laminate and WFF floors, which areinstalled with mechanical locking systems. The main reason is that suchgroove will have a negative impact on the stability of the panel and onthe locking system since material will be removed from the balancinglayer and the lower parts of the locking system.

DEFINITION OF SOME TERMS

In the following text, the visible surface of the installed floorboardis called “front side” or “surface”, while the opposite side of thefloorboard, facing the subfloor, is called “rear side”. The startingboard material that is used as a base material is called “core”. Whenthe core is coated with a surface layer closest to the front side andpreferably also a balancing layer closest to the rear side, it forms asemi manufacture, which is called “a board” that in a subsequentoperation generally is divided and machined into a plurality of “floorpanels”.

By “horizontal plane” is meant a plane, which extends parallel to theouter part of the surface layer. Immediately juxtaposed upper parts oftwo neighboring joint edges of two joined floorboards together define a“vertical plane” perpendicular to the horizontal plane.

The outer parts of the floorboard at the edge of the floorboard betweenthe front side and the rear side are called “joint edge”. As a rule, thejoint edge has several “joint surfaces” which may be vertical,horizontal, angled, rounded, beveled etc.

By “locking system” is meant co-acting connecting means, which connectthe floor panel vertically and/or horizontally. By “mechanical lockingsystem” is meant that joining may take place without glue.

By “up or upward” means toward the surface and by “down or downward”means toward the rear side. By “inwardly” is meant towards the centre ofthe floorboard and by “outwardly” means in the opposite direction.

By “carving” is meant a method to form a groove or a protrusion on anedge of a panel by carving a part of the edge to its final shape by oneor several carving tool configurations comprising several non-rotatingand fixed chip-removing surfaces located along the feeding direction

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF EMBODIMENTS

An objective of embodiments of the present invention is to providelaminated panels comprising thermosetting resins and a method to producesuch panels with the aim to reduce the weight and material content ofsuch panels, especially floor panels, and to combine such cost savingand material reducing methods with a high quality locking systems and acore that provides sufficient stability which is needed in the pressingoperation and when the floor is used. A further objective is to providesolid wood floors with reduced weight and material content and increasedstability.

A first aspect of the invention is building panels having a surfacelayer on the front side, an intermediate core and a backing layer on therear side of the core, wherein the core and the layers all comprise woodfibres and thermosetting resins. The panels are provided with a lockingsystem for vertical and horizontal locking of a first edge of a firstbuilding panel to an adjacent second edge of a second building panel.The upper parts of the first and the second edge in a locked positiontogether define a vertical plane perpendicular to a horizontal plane,which is parallel to the surface. Said locking system comprises a tongueand a tongue groove configured to cooperate for vertical locking, and astrip, which is provided with a locking element and configured tocooperate for horizontal locking with a downwardly open locking grooveformed in an adjacent edge. The backing layer and the core compriseseveral vertically extending core grooves with an opening towards therear side. The area of the backing layer is less than about 90% of thearea of the surface layer.

The backing layer may comprise at least three core grooves spacedhorizontally and inwardly from the locking system at one pair ofopposite edges.

The area of the backing layer may be less than 80% of the area of thesurface layer.

The entire parts of at least one core groove may be located inside thevertical plane VP at all edges.

The panels may be rectangular with long edges and short edges and thecore grooves may be parallel with the long edges.

The core grooves may have a groove depth that is at least 0.3 times thefloor thickness.

The core grooves may comprise an opening that is large than an innerpart of the grooves.

The backing layer may comprise essentially the same fibres as the core.

A second aspect of the invention is a method to produce a floor panelseach having a surface layer on the front side, an intermediate core anda backing layer on the rear side of the core wherein the core and thelayers all comprise wood fibres and thermosetting resins. The methodcomprises the steps of:

-   -   creating wood fibre chips by forming core grooves in the rear        side of previously produced panel;    -   producing a mix by mixing the wood chips with thermosetting        resin,    -   scattering the mix of wood chips and thermosetting resin on the        upper and/or lower side of the core,    -   forming a board by curing the mix with heat and pressure,    -   cutting the board into several floor panels, and    -   forming a locking system at a first and a second panel edge, the        locking system comprises a strip, a locking element and a        locking grove for horizontal locking and a tongue and a tongue        groove for vertical locking.

The mix may be scattered on the lower side of the core.

The mix may be scattered on the upper and lower side of the core.

The core may be HDF.

The core grooves may be formed prior to the forming of the lockingsystem on long or short edges.

The core grooves may be formed by a jumping tool comprising severalrotating saw blades or a carving tool.

The pressed board may be more convex than the floor panel.

The core grooves are used to create wood fibre material that may be usedin a second step to form the upper or lower layers of the floor panel.The material that is removed from the core when forming the coregrooves, reduces the weight of the panel in spite of the fact that theoriginal panel thickness is maintained and that a panel which is thickerthan the original core may be formed by using the chips from the formingof the core grooves. The whole floor panel including the upper and lowerlayers may be formed by materials comprising the material from the core.

The core and the layers may, as an alternative, comprise a thermoplasticmaterial, such as PVC, PET or vinyl, preferably provided with a filler,and the chips created are, for this alternative, embodiment plasticchips.

The locking system may, as an alternative, comprise a protruding stripat the first or the second panel edge and a recess on a lower side ofthe other of said first or second panel edge. An upper surface of theprotruding strip or a lower surface of the recess is preferably providedwith an adhesive, such as an adhesive tape, preferably provided with aremovable strip.

A third aspect of the invention is a wood based floor panel having anupper and a lower layer of solid wood. The lower layer comprisescavities and the upper layer forms an upper part of the cavities.

The panels may have a mechanical locking system at two opposite edges.

A fourth aspect of the invention is a method to produce essentially flatfloor panels, each having a surface layer on a front side, a backinglayer on a rear side, and an intermediate core, wherein the surface andbacking layer comprise thermosetting resins and wherein the methodcomprises the steps of:

-   -   forming a large board with convex pretension backwards by        connecting the core, the surface layer and the backing layer        with heat and pressure;    -   dividing the board into several floor panels;    -   forming core grooves at the rear side of the panels such that        the convex pretension is at least partly released.

The core grooves may be formed after the dividing of the board intoseveral floor panels.

The above objects are achieved wholly or partly by locking systems,floor panels and production methods according to embodiments of theinvention.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

The present invention will by way of example be described in more detailwith reference to the appended schematic drawings, which showsembodiments of the present invention.

FIGS. 1a-d illustrate known technology.

FIGS. 2a-d illustrate a floor panel according an embodiment to theinvention.

FIGS. 3a-e illustrate alternative embodiments of the invention.

FIGS. 4a-d illustrate forming of a floor panel according to anembodiment of the invention.

FIGS. 5a-e illustrate embodiments of core grooves.

FIGS. 6a-e illustrate balancing of a panel with core grooves and coregrooves in a solid wood floor according to embodiments of the invention.

FIGS. 7a-c illustrate embodiments of tools to form core grooves.

FIGS. 8a-c illustrate embodiments of cost efficient locking systems thatmay be combined with core grooves.

DESCRIPTION OF EMBODIMENTS OF THE INVENTION

A first embodiment of floorboards provided with a mechanical lockingsystem according to the invention is shown in FIGS. 2a-2d . The floorpanel comprises a locking system on long 1 a, 1 b and short 1 c, 1 dedges. FIG. 2a shows the front side with the surface layer 2 and FIG. 2bshows the rear side with the backing layer 4. The area of the surfacelayer A′ is essentially the same as the area A of the backing layer 4.FIG. 2c shows that essentially vertical core grooves 19 a, 19 b, with anopening toward the rear side or the panel, may be formed on the rearside in the backing layer 4 and into the core 3 that may be a wood basedboard such as for example HDF, chipboard or plywood. The core may alsocomprise plastic material. Such forming may be made with rotating sawblades 20 a as shown in FIG. 2d . Carving may also be used. The panelsare generally machined with the surface layer 2 pointing downwards. Thejumping saw blade is displaced towards the panel 20 a from above, orbelow if the surface layer 2 is pointing upwards, and away from thepanel 20 c when the panel moves relative the rotating saw blades.Several core grooves 19 a, 19 b are formed that in this preferredembodiment are located inwardly from the edges and preferably alsoinwardly from the vertical plane VP such that they do not intersect anypart of the locking systems on the long and short edges. The grooves 19may also be formed with fixed or jumping non-rotation carving tools.

The forming of the grooves creates wood chips 21 that according toembodiments of the invention may be milled and sieved to wood powderthat may be mixed with thermosetting resin and scattered on a core toform the surface and/or backing layer. The core grooves are mainly usedto provide wood fibre material that may be used in the upper 2 or lower4 layers in order to save material. They may also be used to decreasethe weight of the floor panel.

FIG. 3a-3e show that the core grooves 19 may be formed with manydifferent geometries and patterns. The core grooves 19 may havedifferent widths as shown in FIG. 3b and the groove length may besmaller than the length BL of the backing layer. They may bediscontinuous as shown in FIGS. 3c and 3d and they may extend from oneedge to the other edge as shown in FIG. 3e . The grooves may also belocated mainly at the outer parts of the backing layer and there may bea middle area MA without any grooves. This may be used to increase thestability of the panel and to reduce the negative impact on the backinglayer when parts of the backing layer are removed. The grooves may beformed along the long sides and/or along the short sides. The panels mayalso be square.

The core grooves reduces the area A of the backing layer. The area A ofthe backing layer is in the shown embodiments about 60%-85% of the areaA′ of the surface layer. This means that the balancing layer will lose40-15% of its strength. A thicker backing layer or increased resincontent may compensate such reduced backing area.

It is possible to form core grooves that reduce the backing area A withmore than 50% compared to the initial area after pressing and the areaA′ of the surface layer.

FIG. 4a-4d show forming of a floor panel 1 according to embodiments ofthe invention. A wood powder based sub layer 2 b is applied on a core 3.FIG. 4b shows that a surface layer 2 comprising a top layer 2 a of woodpowder or a decorative paper and overlay may be applied on the sub layer2 b. A powder backing layer 4 may be applied on the rear side of thecore 3. FIG. 4c shows the forming of a core groove 19 that creates chips21. Such chips may be milled, sieved and mixed with thermosettingbinders. This material may be scattered on the core to form the woodbased top layer and/or sublayer and/or backing layer as shown in FIG. 4b. Finally the locking system 10, 9, 6, 8, 14 is formed as shown in FIG.4 d.

The milling or carving of the core grooves may be formed after pressingand prior to the sawing the large board into individual panels, aftersawing but prior to the forming of the locking system, after the formingof the locking system on two opposite edges for example the long edgesor as a final operation after the forming of the locking system. Suchproduction steps may be combined and some grooves made be formed inseveral production steps.

The core grooves may easily provide sufficient wood fibre material forthe various layers described above. The cured thermosetting resins fromthe chips are compatible with the melamine powder that is mixed into thewood powder and no separation of fibres and cured resins is needed. Thebacking and the surface may comprise new virgin thermosetting resins andalready cured resins.

FIGS. 5a-e show different preferred geometries of the core grooves thatmay comprise a vertically extending groove depth GD of for example0.1-0.5 times the floor thickness T, a groove width GW of about 0.5-1times the floor thickness T and there may be a horizontally extendingspace S between the core grooves of about 0.2-1 times the floorthickness f as shown in FIG. 5 a.

The core grooves may have different shapes and the inner core grooves 19b may be formed with a smaller groove depth GD than the outer grooves 19a in order to increase the stability of the panel. Core grooves 19 c mayalso be formed with an undercut by for example a carving tool 20.

Core grooves with a groove depth GD of for example 0.8 times the panelthickness T may be formed in wall panels where the requirements on theimpact resistance are much lower than in for floor panels.

FIGS. 5c-5e show the core grooves 19 seen from the long edges. Thepanels have a fold down locking system on the short edges 1 c,1 d with aflexible tongue 10 that allows locking with vertical folding. FIG. 5cshows a core groove 19 with a groove length GL which is smaller than thedistance between the locking systems at opposite short edges. FIG. 5dshows that the core grove 10 is curved at one short edge 1 d andparallel with the surface at the other edge 1 c such that it intersectsa part of the locking groove 14. Such embodiments allows that thejumping tool have to be displaced during forming only when the formingof the core grooves 19 starts or ends. FIG. 5e shows a core groove 19that is formed with a fixed tool and that intersects the locking strip 6and the locking groove 14.

The core grooves may provide sufficient material to for example producea 0.5 mm backing layer and a 0.5 mm sub layer. A 7 mm HDF core may beused to produce an 8 mm floor panel by using the material from the coreto form the backing layer and preferably at least parts of the surfacelayers. This may result in a material saving and weight reduction ofabout 15%.

An even larger material saving and weight reduction of about 20% may bereached if core grooves are formed such that they reduce the backinglayer with 50% of the floor surface and with a groove depth GD of 40% ofthe floor thickness T.

The core grooves may be filled with material that preferably is cheaperthan wood and/or that gives the floor other properties such as forexample an increased sound reduction.

The chips may of course also be used completely or partly to createthermal energy. Embodiments of the invention may therefore also be usedin floors that comprise a wood based core and where the core groves areused for weight reduction and the chips for energy or as filler invarious applications.

Forming of core groves after pressing provides the advantage that thebacking layer counteracts the shrinking of the top layer during pressingand cooling and the pressed board is at this production stage notaffected by the core grooves that are formed in the floor panel afterthe pressing operation.

However, the forming of the core grooves removes a part of the balancinglayer and this may result in that tension is released and that the paneledges bend upward after the forming of the grooves. Such a panel willnot be completely flat and may be slightly concave along the length andthe width.

FIGS. 6a-6c show that such problems may be counteracted and completelyeliminated if the large board is formed with a pre tension backwardsthat is adapted to the dimensional changes caused by the forming of thecore grooves as shown in FIG. 6a . The pretension may be accomplishedfor example by a thicker backing layer that may comprise more resins andthat may be cured at a higher temperature than the surface layer. Such aproduction method is characterized in that the board, when pressed andcooled, has a larger backwards bending than the final floor panel withcore grooves on the rear side. Even a mechanical bending directly afterthe pressing when the board is still hot may be used to accomplish aplastic deformation and to stretch the surface layer such that an “overbending” backwards may be created that partly springs back to anessentially flat position when the core grooves 19 are formed. FIG. 6bshows that part of the tension is released when the core grooves areformed and the floor panel may be essentially flat when the grooves andthe edges are formed as shown in FIG. 6 c.

FIG. 6c shows that the core grooves may be covered with a separatecovering layer 23 for example a paper, a plastic foil, foam, cork or awood veneer. This may be used to hide the groves, to provide a moisturesealing or to reduce sound. The core grooves according to embodiments ofthe invention may therefore also be used in veneered floors where anupper and lower wood veneer is glued to a wood based core such asplywood, HDF or a chipboard.

FIG. 6d shows that the method to form core grooves 19 may also be usedin solid wood floors where core grooves 19 are formed in the solid woodbody 3, preferably along the fibres 24 in the length direction of thepanel. A wood veneer or a wood sheet may be used as a covering layer 23to cover the opening 25 of the core grooves 19. Such wood based coveringlayer 23, that may have a thickness of for example 0.5-1.0 mm or more,may also provide stability and may counteract bending and warping. Themoisture content of the veneer may be adapted to the moister content ofthe solid wood body such that a tension is obtained when the veneer orthe wood sheet shrinks.

FIG. 6e shows a wood based floor panel having an upper 2 and a lower 4layer of solid wood. The layer may be made of different wood types thatare glued to each other. The lower layer 4 comprises cavities 26. Theupper layer may form an upper part 27 of such cavities. The cavities mayalso be formed in the upper layer and the lower layer may form a lowerpart of such cavities.

The different wood types that are glued to each other may have about thesame thickness. The locking system may be formed partly or completely inthe lower layer 4. Core grooves 19 with an opening that points downwardsmay also be formed in the lower layer 4. The embodiment shown in FIG. 6emay comprise HDF boards, instead of the solid wood layers, that may beformed and glued together in the same manner as described above. Such acombination core may be laminated as a conventional solid HDF board.This method is particularly suitable to be used for thicker laminatedpanels of a thickness of about 8-12 mm.

Core grooves or cavities formed in solid wood provide the advantagesthat the weight of the solid wood floor may be reduced and increasedstability may be obtained.

The chips from the core grooves or cavities may be used for thermalenergy or to produce wood fibres for other powder based floors or fibrebased boards such as particleboards. It is also possible to mix the woodchips with a binder and to produce an artificial wood veneer that may behandled as a separate layer and glued against the opening of the coregrooves.

The same technology may be used in a floor with a plywood based core anda veneered surface layer.

FIG. 7a shows a tool 20 comprising several rotating saw blades that maybe used to form core grooves 19.

FIG. 7b shows a carving tool 20 with several carving teeth 20 a-d thatare offset horizontally. The carving tool is preferably fixed in thehorizontal direction and the panel is displaced against the carving toolin the feeding direction FD against the tool. Each tooth may carve about0.3-0.5 mm in HDF material. The groove may be V or U shaped or evenundercut with an inner part that has a larger horizontal extensionperpendicular to the groove length than the opening.

FIGS. 8a-8c show that further cost savings may be reached with lockingsystems that are adapted to be separated from the large board withoverlapping edges OL and with a non-linear cut that preferably is madewith carving tools 20 a, 20 b. FIG. 8a shows a locking system, whichcomprises a protruding tongue 10 and a protruding strip 6 on the sameedge. Such joint geometry may be used to accomplish a considerablereduction of the material waste W that is caused when the panels are cutand when the locking systems are formed. FIG. 8c shows that the rearside 6 a of the strip 6 may be formed such that the rear side of thestrip is inclined upwards and such that an outer part of the strip iscloser to the surface than an inner part. All such forming and materialwaste may be used to provide wood fibres that may be used in upper orlower layers of a panel.

Core grooves may be combined with non-linear separation and lockingsystems that make it possible to divide the board into several panelsthat have geometry such that they may be positioned in the samehorizontal plane HP with overlapping edges.

It is possible to form the whole floor panel from the wood materialobtained from the core of other floor panels. Only melamine powder hasto be added into the mix. The upper layer may be harder than the coresince a higher density may be created during the pressing of the powdermix. Such panels may be formed with embossed structures and may bepainted, lacquered or digitally printed in the factory or panted and/orlacquered after installation.

EMBODIMENTS

1. Building panels (1, 1′), each having a surface layer (2) on a frontside, a backing layer (4) on a rear side and an intermediate core (3),wherein the intermediate core and the surface and the backing layer allinclude wood fibres and thermosetting resins, said building panels areprovided with a locking system for vertical and horizontal locking of afirst edge of a first building panel (1) to an adjacent second edge of asecond building panel (1′), wherein upper parts of the first and thesecond edge in a locked position together define a vertical plane (VP)perpendicular to a horizontal plane (HP), which is parallel to thesurface layer (2), said locking system includes a tongue (10) and atongue groove (9) configured to cooperate for vertical locking, and atthe first edge a strip (6) provided with a locking element (8), which isconfigured to cooperate for horizontal locking with a downwardly openlocking groove (14) formed in the second edge, wherein the backing layer(4) and the intermediate core (3) include several vertically extendingcore grooves (19) with an opening towards the rear side and that thearea (A) of the backing layer is less than about 90% of the area A′ ofthe surface layer.

2. The building panels as in embodiment 1, wherein the backing layer (4)includes at least three core grooves (19) spaced horizontally andinwardly from the locking system at one pair of opposite edges.

3. The building panels as in embodiments 1 or 2, wherein the area (A) ofthe backing layer is less than 80% of the area of the surface layer(A′).

4. The building panels as in any one of the embodiments 1-3, wherein theentire parts of at least one core groove (19) is arranged inside thevertical plane VP at all edges.

5. The building panels as in any one of the preceding embodiments,wherein the building panels are rectangular with long edges (1 a, 1 b)and short edges (1 c, 1 d) and wherein the core grooves (19) areessentially parallel with the long edges.

6. The building panels as in any one of the preceding embodiments,wherein the core groove depth (GD) is at least 0.3 times the floorthickness (T).

7. The building panels as in any one of the preceding embodiments,wherein the core grooves (19) include an opening with a groove width(GW) that is larger than an inner part of said groove.

8. The building panels as in any one of the preceding embodiments,wherein the backing layer (4) includes essentially the same types offibres as the core (3).

9. A method to produce floor panels, each having a surface layer (2) ona front side, a backing layer (4) on a rear side and an intermediatecore (3), wherein the core and the surface and backing layer all includewood fibres and thermosetting resins and wherein the method includes thesteps of:

-   -   creating wood fibre chips (21) by forming core grooves (19) in a        rear side of previously produced panel;    -   producing a mix by mixing the wood fibre chips with a        thermosetting resin;    -   scattering the mix on the upper and/or lower side of a core;    -   forming the core and the mix to a board by curing the mix with        heat and pressure;    -   cutting the board into several floor panels; and    -   forming a locking system at a first and a second edge of the        floor panels, the locking system includes a locking groove (14)        and a strip (6) with a locking element (8) for horizontal        locking and a tongue (10) and a tongue groove (9) for vertical        locking.

10. The method as in embodiment 9 wherein the mix is scattered on thelower side of the core.

11. The method as in embodiment 9 or 10, wherein the mix is scattered onthe upper and lower side of the core (3).

12. The method as in any one of the embodiments 9-11, wherein the coreis HDF.

13. The method as in any one of the embodiments 9-12, wherein the coregrooves are formed prior to the forming of the locking system at long orshort edges of the floor panels.

14. The method as in any one of the embodiments 9-13, wherein the coregrooves are formed by a jumping tool including several rotating sawblades or a carving tool.

15. The method as in any one of the embodiments 9-14, wherein thepressed board is more convex than the floor panels.

16. A wood based floor panel having an upper (2) and a lower (4) layerof solid wood, wherein the lower layer includes cavities (26) and thatthe upper layer (2) forms an upper part (27) of the cavities (26).

17. The floor panel as in embodiment 16, wherein one pair of oppositepanel edges includes a mechanical locking system (9,10,6,8,14) forlocking the floor panel to an adjacent essentially identical floor panelvertically and horizontally.

18. A method to produce essentially flat floor panels, each having asurface layer (2) on a front side, a backing layer (4) on a rear sideand an intermediate core (3), wherein the surface and backing layerinclude thermosetting resins and wherein the method includes the stepsof:

-   -   forming a large board with convex pretension backwards by        connecting the core, the surface layer and the backing layer        with heat and pressure    -   dividing the board into several floor panels;    -   forming core grooves (19) at the rear side of the panels such        that the convex pretension is at least partly released.

19. The method as in embodiment 18, wherein the core grooves are formedafter the dividing of the board into several floor panels.

20. The method as in embodiments 18 or 19, wherein the core grooves areformed after the dividing of the board into several floor panels.

The invention claimed is:
 1. A method to produce essentially flat floorpanels, each floor panel having a surface layer on a front side, abacking layer on a rear side, and an intermediate core, wherein thesurface layer and the backing layer comprise thermosetting resins, andthe method comprises: forming a board with convex pretension so that theboard is curved downward at opposite lateral edges of the board, byconnecting the core, the surface layer and the backing layer with heatand pressure; dividing the board into several floor panels; and formingcore grooves at the rear side of the floor panels such that the convexpretension is at least partly released.
 2. The method as claimed inclaim 1, wherein the core grooves are formed after dividing the boardinto the several floor panels.
 3. The method as claimed in claim 1,further comprising covering the core grooves with a separate coveringlayer.
 4. The method as claimed in claim 3, wherein the separatecovering layer is one of a paper, a plastic foil, foam, cork and a woodveneer.
 5. The method as claimed in claim 1, further comprising formingcomponents of a mechanical locking system at two opposite edges of thefloor panels.
 6. The method as claimed in claim 5, wherein a groovelength of the core grooves is smaller than a distance between thecomponents of the mechanical locking system at the opposite edges. 7.The method as claimed in claim 5, wherein the core grooves are curved atone short edge of the floor panels and parallel with the surface layerat the opposite short edge of the floor panels such that the coregrooves at the opposite short edge intersect a part of a locking grooveprovided in the mechanical locking system.
 8. The method as claimed inclaim 1, wherein the core grooves are curved at the short edges.
 9. Themethod as claimed in claim 1, wherein at least two of the core grooveshave different shapes.
 10. The method as claimed in claim 1, wherein thecore grooves comprise inner core grooves and outer core grooves, and theinner core grooves are formed with a smaller groove depth than the outergrooves.
 11. The method as claimed in claim 1, wherein the core groovesare formed by undercutting.
 12. The method as claimed in claim 1,wherein the convex pretension is at least partly accomplished byproviding more resins in the backing layer than in the surface layer.13. The method as claimed in claim 1, wherein the convex pretension isat least partly accomplished by curing the backing layer at a highertemperature than the surface layer.
 14. The method as claimed in claim1, wherein the convex pretension is at least partly accomplished bymechanical bending of the board while the board is hot.
 15. The methodas claimed in claim 1, wherein the floor panels are essentially flatafter forming the core grooves at the rear side of the floor panels. 16.The method as claimed in claim 1, wherein a vertically extending groovedepth of said grooves is between 0.1 and 0.5 times a floor thickness ofthe floor panels.
 17. The method as claimed in claim 1, wherein there isa horizontally extending space between the core grooves.
 18. The methodas claimed in claim 17, wherein the horizontally extending space isbetween 0.2 and 1 times a floor thickness of the floor panels.
 19. Themethod as claimed in claim 1, further comprising filling the coregrooves with material.
 20. The method as claimed in claim 1, wherein thearea of the backing layer is less than about 90% of the area of thesurface layer.